SpiritualPaths.net2015-02-07T00:38:01Zhttp://www.spiritualpaths.net/feed/atom/WordPressedhttp://www.spiritualpaths.nethttp://www.spiritualpaths.net/?p=41952014-08-25T02:47:11Z2014-05-20T15:10:22ZOn May 17, 2014, Ed Bastian and his son Jonathan engaged in a conversation on the topic of “Sacred Self & Sacred Earth” at the Festival of Faiths in Louisville, KY. After their conversation, Ed and Jonathan were joined by Sufi Teachers Shaikh Kabir and Shaikha Camille Helminski. The conversation between Jonathan and Ed begins at about 9 minutes and 30 seconds into the tape.

]]>0edhttp://www.spiritualpaths.nethttp://www.spiritualpaths.net/?p=41242014-03-22T16:25:56Z2014-03-22T16:25:56ZRabbi Rami is a dear friend and colleague who has published many books and articles including his monthly column in Spirituality and Health Magazine. He also has a weekly radio program on the Unity Network. Please click here for his interview with Ed Bastian.
]]>0edhttp://www.spiritualpaths.nethttp://www.spiritualpaths.net/?p=39812013-10-21T17:43:32Z2013-10-15T19:41:21ZWe are entering a hopeful and exciting new time in the ‘history of religion’ on our planet. Polls tell us that over 70% of the emerging millennial generation population is starting afresh, unburdened by the cultural biases and limited identities of institutional religion. This new trend merges with other emerging paradigms in our society like distributed rather than vertical energy systems, permaculture, biomimicry, quantum physics, local food movement, new & transitional communities, openness to new loving gender/ethnic/racial relationships, mutuality/reciprocity vs competition, and so on.

Our books, programs and classes celebrate the diversity embodied in this new movement. We support the expansion our spiritual potential beyond the confines of sectarian religious paradigms. Now, the title “spiritual director,” that made sense within the confines of a single, fixed tradition, will need redefining.

“Serving” the needs of the SBNR and Spiritually Independent will require a new process for InterSpiritual Mentoring and discernment. This new process should also recognize the great value in going deeply into the wisdom, practice and discipline of well-established spiritual/philosophical/mythological/scientific/psychological traditions. It can help the SBNR and the Spiritually Independent to find appropriate root practices from an ancient spiritual traditions from which they can branch out and create their individual spiritual paths.

InterSpiritual Meditation and the Mandala Process provide nonsectarian tools to serve both those who are rooted in a tradition as well as the Spiritual But Not Religious(SBNR) or Spiritually Independent. These tools provide chaplains, ministers and spiritual directors with methods and resources to help the spiritually non-alignedto create their own spiritual paths and contemplative practices based on one or more wisdom traditions. In so doing, our newly trained mentors can help the SBNR avoid the trap of misunderstanding and misappropriating beliefs and practices from various traditions as they create their own spiritual path.

In these programs, we will learn to “lead from within” by using the Spiritual Paths Mandala process for discovering our natural archetypal spiritual styles, finding answers to our deepest spiritual questions and discerning the practices that are right for us. This process helps us to create a spiritual path leading to equanimity, wisdom, and deep empathy for others. The Mandala, which outlines twelve families of spiritual styles, questions and traditions provides a container and context creating our own paths.

We begin with Bastian’s Spiritual Profiling Instrument to identify our primary and secondary spiritual styles so that we “know how we know.” Then through the lens of our archetypal style, we find answers to our deepest questions, and spiritual practices enabling us to “lead from within” in order to serve the deepest needs of ourselves and others.

The Mandala was developed by Dr. Bastian through his close collaboration with over fifty Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Taoist, and Native American spiritual teachers.

Dr. Ed Bastian

Ed Bastian holds a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies and is the founder and president of Spiritual Paths Foundation. He developed the Spiritual Paths Mandala process after forty years of research, study, and teaching, especially during the past decade, with over fifty esteemed teachers from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduim, Islam, Judaism, Taoism, and Native American traditions. He is the award winning co-author of Living Fully Dying Well, author of InterSpiritual Meditation, publisher of Meditations for InterSpiritual Wisdom, and producer documentaries on religion for the BBC and PBS. He is the former co-director of the Forum on BioDiversity for the Smithsonian and National Academy of Sciences, an internet entrepreneur, and translator of Buddhism scriptures from Tibetan into English.

In-person and online classes on the Spiritual Paths Mandala are held periodically throughout the year.

CLICK HERE for more information. For a list of upcoming classes, check the “Programs and Classes” links on the right column of our home page. You may also contact ed@spiritualpaths.net.

The overarching purpose of our process of inquiry, insight and integration is to help each student to develop a spiritual foundation leading to personal fulfillment, healthy relationships, a meaningful vocation and happiness through service to others. Since global transformation is dependent on the spiritual transformation of individuals, this process aims to help each student to embark on a inner journey to become the change they wish to see in the world.

Inquiry – – The Spiritual Paths Mandala

The process of inquiry begins with the following questions: How do I learn? What are my questions?

Many students are not prepared to answer these questions immediately. Therefore, we begin with an instrument to help students become aware of the archetypal spiritual learning styles that may have been hidden in their subconscious minds. Next, students complete a similar instrument that helps them to remember their fundamental questions. Then, with guidance of a mentor and support of the learning community, they embark on their own learning adventures and the creation of their path.

In the Spiritual Paths Mandala, the outer circle lists 12 families of archetypal spiritual learning styles. The middle circle lists 12 families of spiritual questions. The inner circle lists 12 broadly defined spiritual and secular traditions from which students can begin to find their answers. The mandala provides a framework for students to harness their own combination of spiritual styles to find teachers, resources and practices. In so doing, they will begin to define their own spiritual paths. This process can be used to find teachers, answers and practices from within a single tradition or from a variety of traditions. (CLICK HERE for more on the 12 Archetypal Spiritual Styles.)

Insight – – InterSpiritual Meditation

As students begin to discover their spiritual styles and re-engage in their questions, they embark on the seven-step process of InterSpiritual Meditation. This universal, non-sectarian process is designed to help each student create a meaningful, satisfying and sustainable contemplative practice. This is a process not a belief system. It provides the framework wherein each student draws from the wisdom and methods of one tradition, or compatible elements of a variety of traditions, to create a personal contemplative practice.

This process is supported by the guidance of a mentor and support of the learning community. For example, if the student’s seven-step process includes practices and perspectives from more than one tradition, guidance must be given to make sure these are not misappropriated, misinterpreted or in conflict with each other. (CLICK HERE for more on the 7 Steps of InterSpiritual Meditation.)

Integration – – Leading from Within

The outcome of inquiry and insight is the integration of one’s spiritual path into all aspects of our lives. Integration is supported by the learning process, by our in-person and online classes and by our ongoing community of support for each other. The processes of inquiry and insight helps to engage in the world by “leading from within.”

Integration requires constant attention to the spiritual path we are developing and the daily renewal of our commitment to sustain the spiritual and contemplative practices that are compatible with our archetypal spiritual learning styles and the answers we are finding to our fundamental spiritual questions.